Saturday, December 5, 2015

Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday. We had a great time with my family. It was a weekend full of food, laughter, and good shopping!

Today I have a quilt to share with you that has been a long time in the making. I originally pieced this quilt as a display for Kean's Store Company in Mason MI. It was a fun way to use a mix of floral prints, and play with fabric placement. The stars in the sashing are all from the same Lecien collection, which helped tie everything together. I loved the way the stars and the different sashing fabrics radiated out from the center. It gives this quilt a very vintage, "shabby chic" feel.

Now that I have my new long-arm machine, it was finally time to see this beauty finished. I did a free motion design that looks like roses with leaves. I love the way the quilting still allows this quilt to have a soft drape.

So here's the best part: This quilt is for sale! You read that right! I'm actually letting one of my quilts out of my sight. ....UPDATE, THIS QUILT HAS BEEN SOLD. THANKS EVERYONE!!!

Why you ask? Simply put, I have run out of room for quilts. One day I dream of having a huge mansion full of quilt cabinets, chests, and beds. For now, I have to settle for a tiny 2 bed apartment. This quilt is made with the highest quality quilt shop material. Also the label can be customized (with a small message) if you are interested in giving this as a gift (even if its a gift for yourself).

If you're interested in learning more about this quilt, or if you'd like to purchase this, please visit my Etsy Store. Also, because I love my blog readers, get $20 off with coupon code BLOG20. I can guarantee this by Christmas if an order is placed before December 20th.

Thanks for visiting me. I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season!!!

Monday, November 23, 2015

R had gotten me a quilt book called "Transparency Quilts" the previous Christmas, and I always thought one of those quilts would make a good gift for Russ. The quilts in that book are modern and not particularly feminine, which can be hard to find when looking for a gift for a man.

R loves the outdoors, and camo print, so I wanted to make him a quilt that felt like the woods. I used a mixture of green and dark brown, so that it would feel outdoorsy (is that a word?). I love the way the colors play together to look like woven tartan. Transparency Quilts does a great job of guiding you through process of choosing colors for these quilts.

I also had the long arm quilter do an all-over oak leaf pattern with acorns. I really felt like that is what sets it off and gives it a natural feel.

R is so sweet. He sleeps with this quilt every night, and I love that he loves it so much. He wanted a big quilt that he could wrap up in completely, and this quilt fits the bill. It is a VERY large queen, and could probably work alright on a king sized bed too.

To photograph the quilt, I took it out to the Historic Barns Park in Traverse City. These barns were originally used to house the livestock that fed the local mental hospital. Recently the barns and gardens have been restored, and they are now open for events. They are absolutely huge and beautiful.

It feels great to give a quilt to someone that truly appreciates it.

Well, its time to bake cookies! Thanksgiving is only a few days away! Have a good one everybody!

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Do you work in an office space? I do. I work in a sea of cubicles with no windows. Very Boring...

Anyway, I decided my cubicle needed some color, and happy color at that. I had some pretty scraps left over from my Star Blossoms quilt, and so I improvised something simple to brighten up my workspace. I love this happy little quilt!

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Today I'd like to share with you some kids quilts I made this past spring to celebrate a new baby born to one of my best, lifelong friends.

My dear friend A and I have been friends since middle school. We knew each other when we were awkward, and immature, and dumb, and we still want to be friends with one another. Some of the highlights of my journey towards adulthood feature her, and the ridiculous things we did together.
As an only child, she and one other friend of ours have been like family.

A told me earlier this year that she was having a baby due in August. As she is the closest thing I have to a sister, I jumped on the opportunity to make a baby quilt for her new little one.

This quilt was named "Welcome to The World!", as it is made from the Scrappy Trips Around the World pattern by Bonnie Hunter (www.quiltville.com). It is a free pattern, and there was a scrappy trip along a few years ago that made this pattern very popular. I wish I had been able to capture the adorable quilting on this one. A friend of mine quilted it with butterflies and flowers all over.

A also has a son. He is an adorable, sweet, fun kid and it always bothered me that I wasn't able to make him a quilt when he was born. I didn't think it was fair to make his new baby sister a quilt before making him one. His entire family are die hard Michigan State Spartan fans, so I knew I needed to make something green and white.

This quilt is named "Go Green!" in honor of the Spartans. This is also a free pattern from Bonnie Hunter called "Scrappy Mountain Majesties" (Quiltville.com). This was a fun, quick pattern, and it was a great use of scraps. All of the green fabrics in this quilt were weird sized hunks left over from other projects (with a few fat quarters mixed in).

I knew that giving a young rambunctious boy a quilt with so much white could be a bad decision. Later on, A sent me this picture, and I knew that it didn't matter.

This one was quilted with all over loops and it turned out really cute. I love that he loves his quilt so much.

A has since had a beautiful baby girl. I'm so glad that even though I wasn't there to welcome her, the quilt was.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

I am currently writing this post at the library because my computer is still broken. I have been quilting SO MUCH, and I haven't been able to show you! It stinks!

I finally got some much needed pictures taken, and then I remembered that I still had photos from this spring that I never was able to share. As I look out the window I see beautiful orange and yellow trees, yet these photos were taken in MAY (disgraceful), when the cherry blossoms were out.

I finished another top made from my pattern "When In Rome". I had been staring at the fabric collection "April Showers" from Bonnie and Camille for months, when I finally broke down and bought the last I could find. I was curious how this quilt would turn out with a smaller scale print in the center/borders, and I am really pleased with how it turned out.

My friend and I took a drive on Old Mission Peninsula this past May to take a gander at the beautiful cherry orchards. I truly believe that this is one of the most gorgeous places on the planet, and I always feel so blessed to be able to visit with just a short drive.

I can't wait to get this one quilted, and get it on my bed! (one other fun secret is that I bought a longarm machine!!! Yay!!!....More on that later) For now, I will just leave you with photos of these beautiful trees.

Thanks for joining me! Stay tuned, because there is A LOT more coming soon!

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

I have another finish to share! You may remember this quilt when I finished the top over a year ago. Near Christmas, I finally was able to get it to the quilter for finishing, and then shortly after we moved, I finally got the binding on.﻿

This is another one of those quilts that is "free". Everything came from my stash to make it. The pattern was very simple and quick to piece which was a great way to achieve instant gratification. The blocks are just oversized bow tie blocks.﻿

I finally got some photos about a month ago, when the weather finally started to warm up, but unfortunately the colors didn't come out quite right. The colors in the photo below are the closest to the actual quilt. The grass was still brown when these photos were taken, but now we have beautiful green grass and trees as summer approaches.﻿

I loved the quilting that was done on this one. I wanted this to be an "autumn" inspired quilt, so I had it quilted with red oak leaves and acorns in an orange thread. I really think it turned out great!

Thanks for letting me share this quilt with you! I have been sewing like crazy, and have much more to share in the weeks to come. Happy June everyone!!!﻿

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

I am super lucky to be able to work-for-the-fun-of-it at a local quilt shop, in addition to my regular day job. Recently I got to make a display quilt for the shop, in one of my favorite new lines of fabric, "Paradiso" by Kate Spain.

The pattern I used is "Star Blossoms" by Cotton Way, which is a layer cake friendly pattern.

This pattern doesn't leave a ton of room to make cutting mistakes, however it does leave you a few extra layer cake squares to make a substitution if you need to. I really loved making this quilt, because it was such a pleasant challenge. I am a chronic "easy quilts" type of girl, because I believe in the beauty of simplicity, and I love the gratification of finishing something. This was a great exercise in patience in persistence, which is something that I can always use.

This quilt took long enough that I was able to watch the entire "Harry Potter" movie series while piecing. I sewed on my last border half an hour prior to the Death of Voldemort (if you aren't a HP fan, sorry for the spoiler).

I loved this quilt as I was piecing it, but I really had the "AHA" moment when I put the borders on. I think it is because this fabric line has so many beautiful colors in it, and the border print tied all of them together. I'm in love.

I finished this quilt at the store after finishing my shift Saturday. Before I left it there to be hung in the store, I decided to grab a few quick shots on my phone so that I could share it with you.

I hope you all find yourselves well, and that all your quilting adventures bring you joy!!!! We are so lucky to be able to create, and sew for the love of it. Thanks for letting me share my quilting adventures with you!!!

Sunday, April 12, 2015

A lot has happened in the last six months!!! Here is the annotated version:
1. R and I unexpectedly found ourselves being kicked out of our condo by April 2015 (this month), because someone wealthier than we are offered to pay a lot more for our space.
2. Due to our pending homelessness, we tried to buy a house. The house we tried to buy failed inspection, and everything else in our price range was either too small, or in need of a lot of work.
3. Following the complete failure of our home buying attempt, I started looking for a new job.
4. I got an interview right away at the one company I had hoped to get a job with for some time.
5. I got hired, with a 30% raise from my old position.
6. We moved to Traverse City in February.

So...naturally...I haven't had time to sew or blog. We have finally gotten settled into our new place, and I have been sewing up a storm ever since. It is so nice to have space to move around again, and I have my own sewing space in our new place. We are both really enjoying Traverse City so far, and it has been refreshing to be around happy, polite and kind people again.

The first thing I wanted to do when we moved was to get some old projects finished. I still have A LOT to go, but I was able to get a few quilted right away.

The first one I want to show you is called "Aztek Fire". This pattern was found in "More Nickel Quilts" by Pat Speth. It is using 5" scrap squares of batik fabric. These particular fabrics were scraps left from other projects, and was a "free quilt" (at least that's what I like to call it when you don't have to buy anything to make a quilt).

Yesterday was really the first sunny day over 50 degrees, so I took the opportunity to get some photos taken. There was very little wind, so it was a great time to get some photos of the quilt laying down.

The blocks are a split nine patch, which gives a really fun effect, when you pair them together into pyramids. I was lucky that most of the blocks had another block similar in color to be paired with. Most of the stray weird colors got put to the outside of the row.

I love all of my quilts, but this is definitely one that I am more proud of. It is more intricate than a lot of the quilts I do, and it was a good exercise in patience and precision. Plus it always feels good to use up tiny bits of fabric. The scrappiness of the whole thing makes the quilt even more interesting.

Well, the sun is shining again today, and it is almost 70 degrees! Looking at these pictures makes me want to go out and play!!! Have a happy Sunday everyone! Thanks for stopping by!